Posted on 12/11/2007 3:23:15 PM PST by I still care
I guess there are those in Hollywood that hope to generate controversy or something to con $10 (or more) from people going to the movies.
Of course when good movies come along (like Bella), people are reluctant to put down the $10...
“Ever since Pope John Calvin had moved the seat of the Papacy to Geneva and set up the Consistorial Court of Discipline, the Church’s power over every aspect of life had been absolute. The Papacy itself had been abolished after Calvin’s death, and a tangle of courts, colleges, and councils, collectively known as the Magisterium, had grown up in its place.”
- The Golden Compass, Chapter Two
... so it would seem he’s trying to spread it around a little. In the movie, the inquisitorial nature of the Magisterium is made quite clear, as the term heresy, or heretic, is used. Lord Ariel is made out to be a sort of Galileo in his spirit of scientific rebellion.
At the very end, “The Authority” is mentioned, and you wouldn’t know that this represents a gnostic concept of God, but I guess this is setup for some further explication in the planned sequels.
I don’t think Christians have “boycotted” this movie. They’re just not going, and encouraging their friends not to waste their money on it.
Where the heck is the long-awaited sequel to Lion, Witch, Wardrobe? Isn’t it the works?
Pullman and his younger brother went to live in Norfolk while their mother went to London to look for work. Shortly thereafter, Pullman's mother received a letter saying that her husband was to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, an award that was presented to the family by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. Later, Pullman discovered that his father, who had incurred gambling debts and was involved in extramarital affairs, was suspected of committing suicide by crashing his plane. Pullman wrote, "Sometimes I think he's really alive somewhere, in hiding, with a different name. I'd love to meet him."
When Pullman was nine, his mother married an airman friend of her late husband's.
There are some great Christmas movies. Ones that are my “specials”, that I never miss come Christmas:
Going My Way
Christmas Carol with George C. Scott (The Alistair Sim
one is good too)
Harry Potter one (great Christmas atmosphere)
Christmas Story
The Polar Express (some of the Imaxs show this on Christmas. If you can find a 3D one, you are in for a treat)
The Man Who Came to Dinner
The First Home Alone
Chronicles of Narnia
If you want an action movie Die Hard
Animated Charlie Brown Christmas, Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol (I still know all the songs... “We’re reprehensible...We’ll steal your pen...and pencible..”, the musical Snowman, and a very hard to find little video called “The Family Circle Christmas”
Not “It’s a Wonderful Life”?
You know, I’ve seen that one so many times....
Of course, in the first Star Wars movie the religion of the Force was deeply believed by most of the heroes (Luke, Obi Wan and Leia) and also by the main villain (Darth Vader), and the skeptics were equally divided with one hero being an agnostic (Han Solo) and the other main villain (Tarkin) being an atheist. It was also made clear that Vader was misusing the Force, while Obi Wan and Luke were treating the Force properly.
In The Golden Compass religion is simply the enemy of everything good.
“Lion, Witch, Wardrobe”
I saw May 16th somewhere on one of the “Compass” threads.
I hope the Star Trek remake bombs next Christmas myself.
Considering the spate of “evangelical athiesm” I’ve seen of late, I’m concluding that they DO believe in God - if they didn’t, they wouldn’t have anything to get all evangelical about. One has to _believe_ in _something_ to be that wound up & motivated to publish magazines, write children’s books, attend conferences, and generally loudly & enthusiastically tell everyone they can about it ... and I just can’t see void/nothing/absence/emptiness/zero being that interesting.
Parallels:
Now the question is, what happened to Philip Pullman when he was an adolescent which wounded him so badly he hated the male "authority" with a passion that lasted the rest of his life? Did his adored Anglical minister grandfather outrae him by dashing his youthful romance with some girl?
If you have any insights?
I think this reflects a growing maturity of CG effects in Hollywood. It used to be people would go see a movie just to see the effects. Nowadays, the effects are just tools to be used in service to the storyline. If the storyline is not adequate, all the CG effects in the World are not going to make up for the void.
It is not enough that the bear talks. People want to hear what the bear has to say.
'zackly.
Maybe I should not have been so general with my comment, but in Pullman’s case I would believe so based on what he has said about Christianity and Catholicism in particular.
Pullman doesn’t have the power to get sequels made.
A good movie needs a good story, well told, with characters that you actually care about. Or at least a couple of those things, anyway. So many Hollywood movies really don’t have anything to offer other than special effects, car chases and big explosions.
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